The workshop on “Strike Tactics” attempted to apply Marxism-Leninism to strike struggles. Lenin has pointed out that strikes are a “school for war” which shows the workers that their situation is not hopeless, gives the workers a sense of their power–makes them aware that without their labor, the capitalists couldn’t produce a thing. Strikes teach the workers the necessity for unity, which is their most important weapon. The workers also see the need for unity with workers outside their plant and the importance of allies from the progressive sections of other classes.
Many times, when faced with the opposition of the press, the police, the courts and other arms of the state, the workers become aware of the fact that they are not just facing one employer in one industry, but a whole class which controls the major institutions of US society. This is even more true today when every strike brings the demands of the workers into conflict with the government wage-freeze policies.
A strike situation brings out, in a concrete way, the differences between a class collaborationist and a class struggle approach to the trade union struggle.
Often a strike struggle opens the workers’ minds to broader political questions and to socialism, in addition to bringing out the need to improve and strengthen their union.
Although strikes are a “school for war”, they are only one form of struggle of the working class. In seizing state power, armed struggle and not strikes will be the main form of struggle.
The main principle guiding the participation of communists in a strike is to fight these battles in such a way as to increase the fighting capacity of the workers both in terms of raising their class consciousness and in strengthening their organization.
One of the major issues in the two-line struggle in the labor movement is the strike weapon itself. To rob the workers of their right and ability to strike is one of the main goals of the fascist labor front. The more the workers need and use this weapon, the more frantic are the efforts of the labor aristocracy to take it away. This is being done in an open way with Steelworkers’ President I. W. Abel’s no strike agreement, and in a more subtle way, with Woodcock’s no-win strikes and mini-strikes. The purpose of these tactics by Woodcock and Abel and others is to convince the workers that strikes “don’t accomplish any anything and hurt everybody” and that “new methods” are needed in dealing with giant corporations. Basically the labor aristocrats are pushing the line of cooperating with the capitalists and depending on their good-will. They say that this is the best way to improve the conditions of the workers. Communists must defend the strike weapon with the class struggle line of “we will never get an anything we don’t fight for.”
Five general principles that we can apply in strike struggles are:
1) KNOW THE ENEMY AND KNOW YOURSELF. This means choosing the time to strike, when the people are prepared. This is both in terms of their consciousness and determination, and in material terms (strike funds, strike support and good organization). Knowing the enemy means striking when the company can least afford it (back log of orders, no inventory, etc.) There are times when a company will try to provoke a strike at a time of the workers’ weakness in order to bust a union or as a substitute for a layoff when they have a large inventory.
The evaluation of the company and the strikers should continue during the strike in order to make a correct judgment about staying out. At times an “orderly retreat” may be necessary to prevent demoralization or the busting of the union.
2) ENCOURAGE DEMOCRACY AND PRACTICE THE MASS LINE. Democracy in the conduct of a strike is one of the keys to ensuring the solidarity and fighting spirit of the workers. The demands must be formulated with the full participation of the workers. They should represent the real wishes and needs of the people and the people should be united on what the two or three most important demands are. The negotiation committee should be elected. Negotiations and the conduct of the strike should be regularly reported on and discussed, and not kept secret. The initiative of the workers should be encouraged and developed.
3) GO ALL OUT IN A STRIKE AND EXCHANGE BLOW FOR BLOW. A strike is a class battle, not a family squabble as the labor mis-leaders would have us believe, and it should be fought as such. This means mobilizing the entire membership for strike duty, and for mass picket lines and demonstrations when necessary. It means going to other workers and their unions for support and getting the support of progressive sections of the population through strike support committees. Meeting an escalation of the company’s with an escalation of strike tactics is important to maintain the morale of the strikers. For example, meeting an attempt to use scabs with a mass picket-line, or meeting a court injunction by breaking it or demonstrating at the city hall, whichever people are ready to do. When the company refuses to concede anything and attempts to wait you out, additional forms of struggle, such as boycotts should be initiated where it is possible.
4) APPLY THE UNITED FRONT TO THE STRIKE SITUATION. Unity is one of the main weapons the workers have in a strike. Communists should make sure that this unity is on a firm basis by ensuring that the special demands of the minority and women workers are raised in a concrete way and fought for. We should oppose efforts to get something for one section of the workers at the expense of another section. An example of this is when the company offers to raise the wages for seniority employees but keeps the wages of the new-hires low and extends the probation period. Leftist errors in the struggle against the labor opportunists are especially costly during a strike struggle.
5) MAINTAIN INDEPENDENCE AND INITIATIVE. In many cases the strikes where communists are involved will be partly or entirely led by opportunist or do-nothing leadership. Even though the strike cannot be run in the ideal way, we should not leave everything in the leadership’s hands. We should use initiative on different levels, of “ask and then do it, do it and then ask, and do it and never ask.” One example of “do it and never ask” is urging individual people to come down to the picket line during the morning shift change when the company tries to use scabs. Once this happened it would be difficult for the union leader to oppose it without exposing himself. If “mass picket lines” had been proposed to the union officials in a meeting it would have been unsuccessful.
Our ability to exercise independence and initiative depends directly on the extent to which we speak from a base–where the progressive elements in the union have been consolidated and organized.
During and immediately after a strike, the lessons of the struggle are fresh in the minds of the people. We should pay special attention to propaganda, study groups, and recruiting efforts. Winning the advanced workers to communist politics and organization is an important part of maintaining our independence. During this time it is very important for communists to work consistently in raising the workers’ understanding that their struggle is political–the struggle of a whole class against the capitalist ruling class.